Content Group

The Content Group’s key mission is to share information and experiences about the management of resources to help optimise access and discovery of content and to enhance the user experience through the most effective management of content.

Remit of the group:

  • Sharing best practice and experiences on content related issues including:
    • Lifecycle of content selection
    • Metadata, discovery, reading lists
    •  Accessibility
       
  • Engaging meaningfully with publishers and suppliers in order to drive change.
     
  • Engaging with other groups locally and nationally on issues that cut right across the whole remit of NC Content group e.g. NEYAL/MDG/NOWAL/NAG.
     
  • Sharing expertise from other relevant groups e.g. UKSG.
     
  • Publicising and promoting the work and expertise of the group across a range of forums.

The Group meets four times per annum: January, April, June and September

Chair: Julie Cleverley (Leeds Beckett University) 

The Content Group was established in 2013.

The Content group has developed an Agenda template for use in supplier meetings to help focus and get the most out of the meetings.

Recent News

  • Metadata/Linked Data Group 

Following a successful Metadata/linked data event in June 2019 a Metadata/Linked Data Technical Sub-Group was established. The group has met 4 times and has representation from 17 NC institutions. The group's vision is that “metadata is an institutional asset which needs to be fit for discovery today and in the future”. The groups remit is to advocate for consistent quality metadata available in the acquisition supply chain, help institutions stabilise their metadata practices for the future and share best practice to capitalise on developments relating to linked data. The impact of the group has been to provide a regional voice for metadata and tapping into the development of a community of metadata good practice ensuring metadata has a tangible voice. The Co-Chair of the group Kathryn Sullivan has written an article for the MDG Bulletin.

  • Accessibility statements for Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 

In line with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 the Content Group have coordinated efforts to gather current accessibility statements from publishers into a spreadsheet. NC members can view this spreadsheet by contacting Julie Cleverley J.Cleverley@leedsbeckett.ac.uk.  

The group has also shared best practice on how these statements are being presented on their institutions library websites. For further information please see Best practice for displaying accessibility statements. 

Achievements

Our key achievements aligned with our objectives include:

  • Engaging meaningfully with publishers and suppliers in order to drive change through successful meetings with publishers like Wiley. We also developed a two-phased approach to secure detailed knowledge about the position of aggregators within the supply chain. Content SIG collated data related to structures, contacts and decision making processes at member institutions and shared this with EBSCO and ProQuest in exchange for candid responses to questions prioritised by members. This resulted in annual workshops where members sought to drive change on issues such as  DRM free ebooks, accessibility, etc.
     
  • Engaging with other groups locally and nationally on issues that cut right across the whole remit of NC Content group. In 2015 the Content Group voiced concerns about textbook licensing using Pearson as an example and brought it to the attention of the NC Directors Group, SCONUL, RLUK through a briefing paper. The outcome of this was the paper fed into discussions with ERWIG, SCONUL, Jisc and RLUK on issues with textbooks (prices and licensing models). Pearson invited libraries to form a library advisory panel.
     
  • In 2016 the Content SIG was also involved in the Jisc Decision Support & Availability Tracking eBooks pilot working with Sero Consulting. The NC group was also involved in the Ebook accessibility audit with NoWAL/SUPC in 2016.
     
  • The group also met with JISC in September 2019 and asked them for a more coordinated approach on gathering accessibility statements from publishers to meet the regulations. The group gathered their own list of statements and are sharing best practice on how these are being presented on their institutions library websites.
     
  • In March 2020 when we went into lockdown the group collaborated and shared information on the free resources that were made available to us by providers to help students get access to more online resources.
     
  • Following a successful Metadata/linked data event in June 2019 a Metadata/Linked Data Technical Sub-Group was established. It has met 4 times and has representation from 17 NC institutions. Its vision is that “metadata is an institutional asset which needs to be fit for discovery today and in the future”. The group's remit is helping institutions stabilise their metadata practices for the future, advocating for consistent quality metadata available in the acquisition supply chain and sharing best practice to capitalise on developments relating to linked data. The impact of the group has been to provide a regional voice for metadata and tapping into the development of a community of metadata good practice ensuring metadata has a tangible voice.
     
  • We also established an Inter-Library Loans technical group that first met in 2019. This provided a forum for members with operational control of ILL services to develop best practice with relation to workflows, systems, and issues  and promote greater consistency within the sector.